The Date
by Guile
Summary: It’s something of a time honored tradition, the father‘s role in his daughter‘s first date. How much worse would it be to have your date’s father be a Super?
1. A Date and a Father's Duty

Disclaimer: 'The Incredibles' and all associated characters belong to somebody else. I'm just playing with 'em.

---

Mr. Incredible, premier superhero, better known as 'Bob', raised an eyebrow at the sound of a door closing and his daughter actually _skipping_ up the stairs. While he loved his daughter dearly, he well knew that skipping was not one of her usual activities. Violet tended to slouch moodily from place to place. Until today, Bob hadn't been aware she knew the mechanics of skipping.

"Honey," he called, halting the unusual display. "Did something good happen today?" Violet giggled girlishly in response. The raised eyebrow was joined by its twin. Something was definitely up. He could count the number of times he had ever heard her giggle that way on one hand.

"I have a date," she announced with a wide smile. "With Tony. We're going to the movies. I have to find something to wear!" And with that, she bolted up to her room. Bob's brow furrowed as he tried to remember who Tony was. Then it hit him; the boy Violet had been quietly pining away for practically forever over.

He started to grin, happy for her, until it occurred to him the million and one things that could happen to a girl, specifically, _his_ little girl, on a date. That Vi could become invisible at will and erect force fields of pure energy didn't enter into the equation at all.

What if she was mugged? Or in an auto accident? Or drugged, or maimed, or shanghaied by pirates! "No no, Bob, get a hold of yourself. That's silly," he coached himself. "What could possibly happen? Oh crap, I just jinxed them!" He remembered his own first date with Helen, the famed Elasti-girl. It had involved a hero-and-villain free-for-all and concluded with the destruction of a city block when Frozone had nailed a tanker truck.

He walked away muttering to himself.

---

Helen Parr, another 'Super', wife of one Incredible and mother of three more, blinked as her husband stormed past. She could practically see the storm cloud over his head. "Bob?" she called after him. "What's the matter?"

Her husband of 15 years explained the situation.

Her budding grin was cut short when he relayed his fears, too. "Well," she mused, "there was our first date… and Frozone's wedding, do you remember, it took forever to unthaw the band… and then there was that time when Gazer-Beam… and when Electra went to the Opera… ah well, I'm sure none of that will happen this time! I should go see if she's found anything to wear yet. Oh, my little girl's first date!" She practically gushed as she hurried upstairs.

Bob was left shaking his head in bewilderment. "Women are so… weird."

---

Tony grinned nervously, and smoothed his hair one last time, before reaching out to push the doorbell. Almost immediately, the door opened. Tony looked up. And up. And up. The man standing in the doorway with the forbidding expression that wouldn't look out of place on an executioner or a judge -- Violet' father? -- had to be at least 6'5", and looked like he could have doubled as a linebacker for the football team of your choice. He'd heard somewhere that Violet's dad was an accountant or something, but this guy looked like he could wrestle bears for fun and bench press Buicks.

Oh no. Nothing to be nervous about, Tony. Play it cool.

"Ah.. Mr. Parr? Is Violet ready?" Slowly, the forbidding expression vanished, and was replaced with something more congenial. "No, not yet, she's still changing or.. something. Come on in, have a seat. Can I get you anything, Billy?"

"Um, no, thanks, Mr. Parr. I'm fine. And it's, uh, Tony. Sir." Mr. Parr nodded and led him to the living room, where they each took a chair while waiting for Violet to come down. "Violet has spoken well of you in the past, and I do trust her judgment. All the same, Jimmy, what exactly are your intentions towards my daughter?" The forbidding expression was back; all prisoners would be executed immediately.

Tony's mind went blank. "Erk.. movies?" he offered feebly, unnerved by how much Violet's dad seemed to loom over him, even though they were sitting down and he was several feet away. The older man nodded regally, as if Tony's answer had been a fascinating and witty response instead of something that could, just barely, pass as a sentence. "Good, good… now listen to me, Wally, and listen well. Violet is my only daughter, and I love her very much. You will be a perfect gentleman. If you make her cry, I will make _you_ cry." To further emphasize his point, he picked up a rock as large as Tony's head that he hadn't noticed had been sitting on the table, and closed his hand around it. A horrifying sound escaped as Mr. Parr slowly clenched his fist. A moment later, his hand opened, and dust and rock fragments poured out onto the table. The rock had been ground into sand. "And if you touch her in any way that she does not want to be touched, or that I disapprove of… I will track you down, and I will do to you what I just did to that rock, but slower. Do you understand me?"

Nod that head, Tony. That's a good boy. He was sure his face was as white as chalk, and he was just glad that he hadn't wet himself; that wouldn't have gone over real well with his date, and despite the scary -- terrifying -- over-protective father, he did want this date to go well.

"Good, good," Bob repeated. They were cut off from further respective threatening and cowering by Violet coming down the stairs. Bob took in the tasteful blouse and jeans, noted the small amount of makeup as too good for her date, and smiled. Standing, he gave her a quick, fatherly hug.

"There's a tracking device in your purse," he whispered to her under cover of the hug. "If you need us, press the button, and we'll come. Watch yourself, and don't let him try anything funny." She giggled and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll be fine, dad. Come on, Tony, we want to get there in time for the previews."

Tony looked back one last time as they neared his car - and saw Mr. Parr hold his hand up in the air and made a rather cheerful crushing motion, as if he were squeezing something invisible. To an observer, it might have looked like a wave, but Tony knew what it was: 'Watch yourself.'

Violet looked up as her date made an odd sound that sounded a bit like 'herk,' but couldn't detect what had spooked him. She looked back at her house, but it was just her dad, smiling and waving.

"Nothing, nothing," Tony said hurriedly, answering her unspoken question. "Let's go, don't want to miss those previews…"

---

TBC: Eventually. Some day.


	2. A Dinner and a Mugging

A/N: Yes! Another chapter! Woo! And in less than six months. I am on a _roll!_

---

Tony smiled. Mr. Parr had scared him out of ten years of his life, but that was behind him. And ahead of him... dinner and a movie, the old tried and true dating strategy. With Violet. At that thought, he glanced at her. She was dressed casually, in a blouse and jeans, and he thought he noticed just a touch of make-up. She looked... really, really good. He shared that bit of information with her, and she blushed becomingly.

That was a bit more like the shy Violet he was familiar with, not the confident aggressive girl he'd come to know in the last day or two. ... Not that there was anything wrong with either Violet. Which prompted the mental image of two Violets. _Down boy._

_Now speak. Arf, arf._

"So," he wondered. "What type of movie do you want to see?"

"What's playing?" his date wondered aloud. His date. Heh. Awesome. Tony launched into a description of what was playing at what time and what he knew about it - he'd memorized them earlier - before trailing off in mid-word. "Uh," he commented. His earlier nervousness back at the Parn house was back. And it had brought friends. How nice. "We seem to be being followed. By an armored car."

'Armored car' wasn't far off; it had the basic shape of a car, but with steel plating covering the entire thing, and with a great big 'G' emblazoned on the hood, criss-crossed with two lightning bolts. "Dad," she muttered. What did Mr. Parr have to do with...?

---

The Gauntlet, a technological mastermind of a superhero, didn't want to be spending his night following two lovebirds around. Unfortunately, he owed Mr. Incredible a favor, and what kind of superhero doesn't pay his debts?

"Can't you go any faster, Ron? Are you a superhero or somebody's grandma?"

The Gauntlet took it back. No matter how many times Incredible had saved his life, _nothing_ was worth this...

---

"So..." Tony tried to think of something interesting to say. The food was delicious, but the lanky black man in the corner was staring at them with disturbing intensity, and had been all night. It was kind of freaking him out. "I noticed you were out for a week. Were you out sick?"

Violet considered. "We visited a few family friends - sort of a vacation. Edna Mode and Mirage are very nice." Tony scratched his beardless chin in thought. "Edna Mode... where have I heard that name before...?" he mumbled.

"She's a fashion designer," Vi explained. "For models or something. Pretty famous, I guess."

"And this... Mirage?"

"Sort of a family friend. I think she's got a crush on Dad, which is way creepy because he's forty and she's like twenty-three... and..." she trailed off, her eyes trained on the black guy in the corner. It was probably the first time she'd seen him, since he wasn't in her direct line of vision. She placed a hand over her eyes. Tony looked over at her, concerned. "Vi? What's wrong?"

His date muttered something under her breath that sounded sort of like 'trombone'. "I don't believe it," she hissed. "I don't want to believe it."

Tony shot her a questioning glance over his linguine. "It's my uncle," she explained. "Well, not really my uncle. He's dad's best friend. They... work together." The pause was barely noticeable.

She looked at the black man rather angrily. "And I bet he's following us." She got up and marched over to his table, placed her hands on the flat surface, and attempted to loom over him. Since she was only a few inches taller standing than the seated guy, it sort of ruined the effect.

She looked ready to chew nails, but the black man looked unruffled. He was even smiling a little. Tony acknowledged Vi's uncle as a braver man than himself; if Violet had turned that look on him, he'd probably be cowering. Or hiding. He didn't notice the man's calm was a little too studied to be natural, and the hand on his wine-glass was just a bit white-knuckled.

"So, are you following us, Uncle Fro'?" The question was voiced sweetly, at odds with the little thunderbolts dancing on her brow (metaphorically speaking, but then, who knows with the Parrs?)

The bald man took a sip of wine. "Why Violet! I'm shocked at you. Shocked. I happen to like this restaurant. What a surprise, meeting you here?" Tony, still back at their table, applauded him in his head for the attempt. 'Uncle Fro' might have been carved of ice, he was so calm. "Focacsia bread?" he offered.

Vi looked ready to do violence. Then she turned without a word and went back to their table. Tony saw her uncle let out a silent breath, and go back to his meal, very studiously _not_ looking in their direction. Tony, with all the caution of a man sharing a cage with a lion, started up some harmless conversation. "So how 'bout them Yankees?"

Violet gradually loosened up again as dinner progressed. By the time the check arrived, she was smiling and animated again. When they left, she cheerfully ignored the man in the corner.

---

"All right buddy. Hand over the wallet nice and easy, and nobody will need to get hurt." Stock, clichéd dialogue. But when delivered over a switchblade, very persuasive. Tony slipped a bit more solidly in front of Violet. Thus, neither he nor the thug noticed the purple sparks running along Vi's hands. "Okay, no problem, man. Stay cool. Let me get my wallet." If the guy didn't have that knife... but he was no Super, and further, he was no fool. He wasn't going to jump a guy with a knife for the forty bucks in his wallet.

Tony was still reaching for his wallet when a red-and-blue blur slammed into the nameless thug. The blur resolved itself into a man in red and blue spandex with a large black spider on his chest and great big googly, reflective eye-pieces.

"Hey Vi. How's the date going?" he asked conversationally as the thug was wrapped in webbing and tossed over a shoulder.

"Holy crap," Tony said wonderingly. "It's the Amazing Spiderman."

The Spiderman gave the impression of a grin under his mask. "Hey, always nice to meet a fan. You two have a good day now." He gave a little salute, and was gone, Super and thug both. "... Wow. I mean... wow." Tony was very nearly speechless. "You know Spiderman?" There was a touch of awe in his voice. Violet was watching the direction the superhero had gone, a baffled look on her face. "I.. don't _think_ I do..."

---

TBC

A/N: For anyone that's interested, Ronald the Gauntlet is an OC, though there is a Gauntlet in an excellent piece of Teen Titan fanfiction, whose name escapes me at the moment. Frozone and Spiderman are, of course, not mine. Next up, the movies, and some more random superhero cameos for no reason at all.

Thanks go out to HORSELUVER101 for catching that little naming error.


End file.
